Yesterday’s terrorist activity in Spain and ISIS’ thus far unsubstantiated public claim that the attackers were “soldiers of the Islamic State” has once again thrust the group to the forefront of the world’s attention—a place ISIS has occupied for years now. Indeed, in the summer of 2014, I was asked…

When the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) encouraged women to join its newly founded “caliphate,” thousands of women from Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and beyond answered the call and moved to ISIS-controlled territory. In line with the group’s extremely gender-conservative ideology, at first the assigned roles of female members…

Since President Trump attempted to ban Muslims from certain countries from entering the United States, the question which Muslims are ‘moderate Muslims’ and which are potential ‘radical Islamist terrorists’ has gained new relevance. While some Muslim leaders deny any connection between their religion and terrorism, it is undeniable that many…

The Islamic State’s recent losses on the battlefield, including significant casualties within its media and propaganda division, offer a unique opportunity to inject competing and alternative messages into the information space. This paper proposes that the content of such messages should be guided by a linkage-based analysis of existing Islamic…

The documents herein constitute the most up-to-date collection of official United Nations documents relevant to the phenomenon of so-called foreign terrorist fighters:

The GCSP has also recently jointly created along with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland an online Platform for the Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) – an interactive tool designed to engage online collaboration between practitioners – international organizations, local NGOs, civil society, governments, private sector, media, and…

The FREE Initiative is the first pan-European resource to offer practical guidance on countering far-right extremism across Europe. It aims to inspire and promote cross-border learning among those working against violent far-right extremism. It showcases the good work that is being done across Europe to prevent, intervene and respond. The…

This report explores the role of religion and engagement with religious actors in the context of efforts to counter violent extremism (CVE). Drawing on insights from recent policy discussions, academic activities, and the practical experience of CVE experts, it offers practical guidelines for policymakers and practitioners seeking to better understand…

Drawn from a wider-ranging piece of research into radicalisation processes, this research note presents findings about the backgrounds of British jihadists travelling to fight in Syria. The research identifies biographical factors that are salient to two theories of radicalisation–Social Movement Theory (SMT) and Olivier Roy’s ‘youth revolt’ theory and presents…

How can we understand the social and economic dynamics that enable the operative space of the militant networks in northern Mali? This article argues that jihadist militant groups are actors in local power struggles rather than ‘fighters’ or ‘terrorists’ with extremist ideological motivations. I argue that the sharp distinctions drawn…

The Handbook of the Criminology of Terrorism features a collection of essays that represent the most recent criminological research relating to the origins and evolution of, along with responses to, terrorism, from a criminological perspective.

This paper uses open-source periodicals in Arabic, English, French, and Urdu to examine how authors from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Taliban construct rival claims of leadership and discredit each other in official periodicals. ISIS authors stress their movement’s legitimacy through religious texts that call…